To obtain insights into small-scale fishing activities in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, 180 trawlers and 180 gillnets fishing households were interviewed. Furthermore, 30 fish merchants were interviewed to understand the fish channel market, while economic fish species composition was determined through the sampling of 30 trawlers and 30 gillnets households. The results showed that both trawl and gillnet fishing operated throughout the entire year. The trawl fishing vessels cover significantly longer time trips (1.9 days) on average compared to the gillnet vessels (1.5 days). Fishing yield calculated per HP of trawlers (0.895 ton/HP/year) was seven times higher than that of the gillnets (0.128 ton/HP/year). The percentages of bycatch in both trawler and gillnet were found to be lower in relation to a previous study. This would suggest that the economic efficiency of trawlers and gillnets has improved. A large proportion of total fish was sold to traders/wholesalers and then transported to processing factories and later sold to the retailers at local markets. The caught economic fish species from the two fishing activities showed typical species assemblages representative of fishing gears. Inclement weather and lack of capital were two of the main highlighted constraints for fishing livelihood survival.